Saturday, March 3, 2018

I Finished It!

Wow, this took some doing! :-)  I decided I wanted to design and make a quilt for my grandson (who is now 16) in an adult size that would reflect his love of animals, and also use his favorite color turquoise.  I started this quilt in Tucson at least six months before we moved.  I started the applique sections and pretty much finished them, then I had to give up and pack it away as we prepared for the move.  Of course, moving in was as time-consuming and difficult once we got here, and I didn't drag the quilt out to work on it till months after our arrival.  I did the herringbone piecing sections, then added borders to make it a Queen size.  But, now I had a problem...it is so big I knew I needed a good big table and some help to get the quilt sandwiched and ready for quilting, and this took me a few months to finally get accomplished.  Once it was safety pinned to the batting and backing, I was overwhelmed by the aspect of quilting it on my machine, but I started slowly.  Finally I finished quilting the center sections (not without some problems), and was able to start quilting the herringbone sections, which was a breeze.  But once I started working on free-motion quilting on the borders, I started having problems with my thread feed.  That was a battle!   I took the machine to the shop and had it cleaned, oiled and adjusted (another two month wait) and then went at it again.  Overall, what I had wanted to give my grandson over a year ago, he will finally receive....better late than never! :-)   I'm glad it's done!  He has seen it, and loves it, so that makes me happy!


The lake and the animals in and around it are all machine appliqued...

The frog in the water was the first "critter" I made

Do you see the lizard?

There's an osprey with a fish flying overhead.  Turtles on the rocks are watching it and the fabric-painted clouds. I did do a little bit of fabric painting on the center panel also.